La filosofia di Biancaneve. Spunti per i tempi che cambiano

Nicola Vitale walks a side path to the smooth march of technocratic rationalism. A rationalism dried up in the imagination, in the capacity for vision, in the sense of community belonging that makes us human beings, as Aristotle taught. Snow White, from a Disney fairy tale, returns to its symbolic powerful significance of alchemical narration where everything, even the most divisive evil, finds meaning and place.

An Initiation Rite in Tibetan Historiography

I shall investigate a quasi-historical event in the biographies of the second ‘Dharma King’ of the Tibetan Empire, Khri-srong Lde-btsan (Trisong Detsen). As the newborn heir to the throne, he was stolen from his mother by a rival queen; however, at a ceremonial event the still infant prince indicated his true descent by sitting on the lap of his maternal uncle. As Ruzsa (2016) noticed, the complex motif of the new ruler choosing his family by sitting on the lap of a male representative can be found in the Indian legend of Śunaḥśepa, embedded in a much richer structure. Following his reconstruction, by analysing further parallelisms in a wider corpus, it appears that the seemingly innocent story of a baby prince is, in fact, a remnant of an archaic rite. I suppose that originally this was a rite of passage, a special variant of puberty initiation: the consecration of the heir apparent. Furthermore, its relationship to the Indian legend of Śunaḥśepa connects it indirectly with the stories of Isaac and even Snow White and also with several rites of passage in ancient Greece. I will also suggest that some versions of the legend point to a probably even more archaic cycle of maternity rites with parallels in Solomon’s judgment and the Chinese Chalk Circle.

Caperucita y la abuela-lobo: Los cuentos de hadas queer de Alejandra Pizarnik

Near the end of her life, the Argentine poet Alejandra Pizarnik (1936-1972) wrote a series of short prose works that explicitly rewrite fairy tales or take up their atmosphere and some of their elements. Such is the case of “Violario” (1971), which rewrites Little Red Riding Hood, with an emphasis on the link between violence and sexuality, and “A tiempo y no” (1968) which highlights the most sinister elements of Snow White. This last story, along with Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid and Hansel and Gretel are also rewritten in prose pieces, poems and in her Diaries. This article analyzes how these rewritings take place—starting with the convergences and divergences with the hypotexts—to illuminate the anomalous and queer image of childhood created by Pizarnik. --- La poeta argentina Alejandra Pizarnik (1936-1972) hacia el final de su vida escribe una serie de prosas breves que recuperan explícitamente cuentos de hadas, o retoman su atmósfera y algunos de sus elementos. Tal es el caso de “Violario” (1971), que reescribe Caperucita roja, con un marcado énfasis en el cruce entre violencia y sexualidad, y “A tiempo y no” (1968) que retoma y subraya los elementos más siniestros de Blancanieves. Este último cuento, junto con La bella durmiente, La sirenita y Hansel y Gretel son recuperados también en otras prosas, poemas y en los Diarios. Indagar el modo en que tienen lugar estas reescrituras, a partir de las convergencias y divergencias con sus hipotextos, iluminará zonas de la infancia anómala y queer que Pizarnik configura.

Fairy Tale Femininities: A Discourse Analysis of Snow White Films 1916-2012

<p>Fairy tales are enduring cultural texts that have enjoyed wide appeal and the continuing popularity of the fairy tale can be seen in the recent proliferation of media employing fairy tale narratives. Fairy tales provide a site of meaning about femininity and masculinity and examining them over time identifies versions of gender that are prized or denigrated within specific social, historical moments. This project was interested in the continuities and divergences in these gendered discourses across time. Although there has been considerable academic interest in fairy tales and gender, few studies have approached the topic from a genealogical perspective. This research extends the current literature through a genealogical analysis of five Snow White films from 1916 to 2012 in addition to incorporating an analysis in relation to a contemporary postfeminist, neoliberal social climate. The research employed a feminist poststructuralist framework and utilised thematic and genealogical Foucauldian discourse analysis to analyse the data. Discursive analyses found enduring discourses of traditional femininity across the films which centrally organised around a binary construction of femininity as ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ A moral discourse worked to construct ‘good’ femininity as prized and bad femininity as punished. Alongside persistent discourses of femininity, however, a newer postfeminist femininity was evident in recent versions of the fairy tale. Consistent with a postfeminist, neoliberal discourse that highlights the importance of the body, analyses found an increased emphasis on beauty and the vast effort required to maintain it. Another postfeminist shift in the tale was the invoking of a girl power discourse to construct Snow as a competent fighter and leader. However, the complex entanglement of discourses of femininity in contemporary society is highlighted by the co-existence of these newer versions of femininity with traditional goals such as achieving a ‘happily ever after.’ From the perspective of possibilities for subjectivity, these shifts in representation appear to offer a young female audience more empowered possibilities of femininity but such power is simultaneously constrained by a complex amalgamation with traditional ‘niceness’ and beauty.</p>

Fairy Tale Femininities: A Discourse Analysis of Snow White Films 1916-2012

<p>Fairy tales are enduring cultural texts that have enjoyed wide appeal and the continuing popularity of the fairy tale can be seen in the recent proliferation of media employing fairy tale narratives. Fairy tales provide a site of meaning about femininity and masculinity and examining them over time identifies versions of gender that are prized or denigrated within specific social, historical moments. This project was interested in the continuities and divergences in these gendered discourses across time. Although there has been considerable academic interest in fairy tales and gender, few studies have approached the topic from a genealogical perspective. This research extends the current literature through a genealogical analysis of five Snow White films from 1916 to 2012 in addition to incorporating an analysis in relation to a contemporary postfeminist, neoliberal social climate. The research employed a feminist poststructuralist framework and utilised thematic and genealogical Foucauldian discourse analysis to analyse the data. Discursive analyses found enduring discourses of traditional femininity across the films which centrally organised around a binary construction of femininity as ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ A moral discourse worked to construct ‘good’ femininity as prized and bad femininity as punished. Alongside persistent discourses of femininity, however, a newer postfeminist femininity was evident in recent versions of the fairy tale. Consistent with a postfeminist, neoliberal discourse that highlights the importance of the body, analyses found an increased emphasis on beauty and the vast effort required to maintain it. Another postfeminist shift in the tale was the invoking of a girl power discourse to construct Snow as a competent fighter and leader. However, the complex entanglement of discourses of femininity in contemporary society is highlighted by the co-existence of these newer versions of femininity with traditional goals such as achieving a ‘happily ever after.’ From the perspective of possibilities for subjectivity, these shifts in representation appear to offer a young female audience more empowered possibilities of femininity but such power is simultaneously constrained by a complex amalgamation with traditional ‘niceness’ and beauty.</p>